Crew Capital Management Ltd. Purchases New Position in Altria Group, Inc. (NYSE:MO)

Crew Capital Management Ltd. purchased a new stake in shares of Altria Group, Inc. (NYSE:MO) in the 3rd quarter, Holdings Channel reports. The fund purchased 4,037 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $206,000.

Several other institutional investors have also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the company. Delta Investment Management LLC lifted its holdings in Altria Group by 2.9% during the 2nd quarter. Delta Investment Management LLC now owns 7,064 shares of the company’s stock valued at $322,000 after purchasing an additional 198 shares during the last quarter. Scarborough Advisors LLC raised its stake in shares of Altria Group by 18.5% in the second quarter. Scarborough Advisors LLC now owns 1,283 shares of the company’s stock worth $58,000 after acquiring an additional 200 shares during the last quarter. Zhang Financial LLC raised its stake in shares of Altria Group by 1.1% in the third quarter. Zhang Financial LLC now owns 18,454 shares of the company’s stock worth $942,000 after acquiring an additional 202 shares during the last quarter. Hollencrest Capital Management raised its stake in shares of Altria Group by 0.3% in the second quarter. Hollencrest Capital Management now owns 76,595 shares of the company’s stock worth $3,489,000 after acquiring an additional 203 shares during the last quarter. Finally, SP Asset Management LLC raised its stake in shares of Altria Group by 2.5% in the second quarter. SP Asset Management LLC now owns 8,211 shares of the company’s stock worth $374,000 after acquiring an additional 204 shares during the last quarter. 57.41% of the stock is owned by institutional investors.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

A number of brokerages have weighed in on MO. Barclays boosted their target price on shares of Altria Group from $43.00 to $45.00 and gave the stock an “underweight” rating in a research note on Monday, September 9th. Stifel Nicolaus boosted their target price on shares of Altria Group from $50.00 to $54.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research note on Thursday, August 1st. StockNews.com downgraded shares of Altria Group from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research note on Tuesday, October 8th. Bank of America lowered their price target on shares of Altria Group from $57.00 to $53.00 and set a “neutral” rating for the company in a research report on Tuesday, October 15th. Finally, Citigroup lifted their price target on shares of Altria Group from $44.50 to $48.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a research report on Tuesday, October 8th. Two research analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, four have assigned a hold rating and one has issued a buy rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, Altria Group currently has an average rating of “Hold” and a consensus price target of $48.20.

Altria Group Stock Down 0.8 %

NYSE MO traded down $0.40 during trading on Monday, reaching $49.21. 1,564,679 shares of the stock traded hands, compared to its average volume of 9,918,885. The firm has a market cap of $84.52 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 10.32, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.90 and a beta of 0.65. The stock’s 50-day moving average price is $51.54 and its 200 day moving average price is $47.83. Altria Group, Inc. has a fifty-two week low of $39.06 and a fifty-two week high of $54.95.

Altria Group (NYSE:MO) last issued its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, July 31st. The company reported $1.31 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, missing analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.35 by ($0.04). The firm had revenue of $6.21 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $5.39 billion. Altria Group had a net margin of 42.25% and a negative return on equity of 232.55%. The firm’s revenue for the quarter was up 14.2% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter in the prior year, the firm posted $1.31 EPS. Analysts anticipate that Altria Group, Inc. will post 5.11 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Altria Group Increases Dividend

The business also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Thursday, October 10th. Stockholders of record on Monday, September 16th were issued a $1.02 dividend. This represents a $4.08 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 8.29%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Monday, September 16th. This is a boost from Altria Group’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.98. Altria Group’s dividend payout ratio is 85.36%.

About Altria Group

Altria Group, Inc, through its subsidiaries, manufactures and sells smokeable and oral tobacco products in the United States. The company offers cigarettes primarily under the Marlboro brand; large cigars and pipe tobacco under the Black & Mild brand; moist smokeless tobacco and snus products under the Copenhagen, Skoal, Red Seal, and Husky brands; oral nicotine pouches under the on! brand; and e-vapor products under the NJOY ACE brand.